Purple Emperor

Stunning though elusive, spending the majority of it's time in the tree tops; however I was ever hopeful as I set off on the drive down to deepest Surrey to track one down! 

Our second largest butterfly with an average wingspan of 75mm  up to 84mm for the males whose wings flash with iridescent purple in the sunlight. The males themselves congregate at a high point perching and battling with each other descending occasionally mid-morning to get salts from the paths or animal dung, to drink at puddles though feeding mainly on aphid honeydew and tree sap. 

The volume of traffic on the roads meant I didn't arrive till lunchtime by which time I was told it was getting more difficult to spot them. I walked miles!!!! Everyone I encountered was knowledgeable, helpful and chatty and wanted to show me their shots. One sweet man insisted me seeing, 'One I took 10 minutes earlier!' although lovely and a great shot ...... grrrh,  just meant after a lot of searching in the heat I just wanted to throttle the guy! 

However after six hours I finally got this shot as the sun had started to go down bringing with it this beautiful male butterfly onto the path. Yay!!!!